Sugar & Spice
by Measured
Summary: Kuro-chan is getting a makeover whether she likes it or not. Girl!Kuro/Girl!Fay some Tomoyo-hime friendship. A bit of sideline HOLiC as well.


Title: Sugar & Spice

Recipient: Shan/aoyagi

Series: TRC, a bit of HOLiC. AU to post series.

Characters/Pairing: Girl!Kurogane/Girl!Fay + some Tomoyo-hime friendship. A bit of sideline HOLiC as well. (With a touch of Doumeki/Watanuki)

Rating: Def. PG-13.

Summary: Kuro-chan is getting a makeover whether she likes it or not. Girl!Kuro/Girl!Fay + some Tomoyo-hime friendship. A bit of sideline HOLiC as well.

A/N: for the au round at dimension shop on lj.

* * *

Tomoyo-hime had a vision, and not just about the future.

She knew that Kuro-chan -a nickname she too had adopted upon meeting Fay- was a delicate flower inside all that roughness. And she was just _dying_ to bring it all out.

The thing was, Fay was convinced of the same thing.

It was friendship at first sight for the two of them. They thought alike and shared exactly the same hobbies. Namely making Kuro-chan's blood pressure rise. It had been fun teasing Kuro-chan alone, but it was downright _wonderful_ to have a friend who enjoyed doing the exact same thing.

They enjoyed tea together, quiet affairs of under-the-surface subterfuge. Kurogane had gotten noticeably jitterier ever since their friendship began.

This only made the pair smile all the more.

* * *

Tomoyo-hime checked the stars. The alignment was correct, she noted. Souma held the texts for her; large ancient tomes that had been passed down from century to century. She kept from around out of habit, mostly. Her childhood had been spent searching the skies, curiosity teaching her all she needed to learn, and now...

The alignment was perfect. She saw the light shining in and methodically, slowly cast the dust in, muttering the proper spell.

The girl gazed down at the pond as it became translucent, almost glasslike. Through the view of the moon and water lilies, an image of a woman cloaked in black began to appear, her long hair unbound and flowing around her. Butterflies floated up and evaporated into wisps of smoke.

"Long time no see, Yuuko," Tomoyo-hime said.

Yuuko smiled. The smoke from her pipe floated around her, hazy and grey. Tomoyo-hime could almost smell it

"I suppose this isn't just a friendly call," Yuuko said.

"No, but it always is a pleasure to talk to you," Tomoyo-hime replied, smiling brightly back.

" I got what you wished for just today," the woman told Tomoyo-hime adding conspiratorially, "I made Watanuki get it."

Out of the vortex popped a skirt. It was blue with a floral print that fell to mid-calf, a cascade of ruffles sewn down the side and around the bottom. Not the kind of skirt that could be found in Tomoyo-hime's era.

It was just the right size.

"The final piece," Tomoyo-hime said serenely.

A barrel of some sort seemed to appear suddenly next to Tomoyo-hime. "Doesn't that get expensive?" Souma asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

Tomoyo-hime smiled.

"Yuuko has distinct tastes."

The barrel, its contents most definitely something alcoholic, sank slowly into the pond.

"She says they don't make sake like they used to," Tomoyo-hime explained.

* * *

Kurogane was sure that they were planning something. It was a deep, ingrained instinct; if he had whiskers, they would be twitching about madly by now. Both Tomoyo-hime and Fay had been entirely too happy recently. Their smiles held a hint of triumph, and they shared far too many knowing glances with one another.

They were up to _something_. Kurogane didn't know what, but she intended to find out.

Souma raised an eyebrow. Of _course_ she thought he--_she_ was going insane.

Kurogane was still getting used to the pronouns, among other┘issues. Some things could've gone better. Tripping over the dimensional witches' wine cabinet and breaking over half the stock definitely hadn't been in the plan. Nor had he thought that the punishment and, ah, _payment_, would be thousands of years of menial toil remaking the wine and his gender. Respectively.

The latter was, most likely, simply a toying bit of spite from an alcohol-less wench who had more wrath than even Tomoyo-hime could dream. The thing was, it had been iFay's fault the damn wine broke in the first place, and Fay was downright enjoying this! Fay loved the girly clothes and, if possible, seemed even more comfortable in her new, soft, feminine skin. She loved the silks and dresses, and seemed┘inordinately fond of her new breasts.

Kurogane was far less fond of her female form. Breasts got in the way of fighting, for one thing. Kurogane had to augment her fighting style to accommodate her new physique. Later on Tomoyo-hime had offered up a sports bra, white with blue stripes. Fay offered filmy lingerie. That was pointedly ignored.

Kurogane, however, was not to be deterred. She took the difficulties in stride -albeit with a lot of unhappiness- had almost grown accustomed to her female body.

And then the bleeding started.

In her defense, she hadn't _killed _anyone. Maimed and seriously injured, yes, but not killed.

* * *

"Come on, Kuro-pon! The children are calling!"

"Children these days--they hardly call," Kurogane muttered. Tomoyo-hime nodded

Sakura-hime blinked into the screen. It had been the wedding present gifted by Yuuko, a silver mirror that had a surface like water. It connected directly to the gazing pond and bits of stars reflected down onto it, looking like snowflakes resting in the water.

"I hope she gets good rates with that service." Kurogane mumbled something more about witches and insane prices, but low enough that the mirror couldn't somehow catch it. Kurogane had become more than a little paranoid after her gender mishap, and now was suspicious of all devices connected to Yuuko, certain that they somehow allowed her to spy in on conversations.

"Yuuko can be indulgent at times," Tomoyo-hime said, a knowing smile playing across her face.

Sakura stared blankly at the screen. She never had quite gotten used to cross-dimensional methods of talk. She shook her head, her crown sliding down her forehead, and Syaoran absently pushed it back into place before it fell.

"I. Um," Sakura-hime began eloquently.

"We miss you every day! Especially Kuro-chan!"

"Shut _up_!" Kurogane yelled back.

"Oh, she's embarrassed"

"You--"Kurogane growled.

"Now, now," Tomoyo-hime said. "Not in front of the children."

Kurogane's hands stopped in their path towards Fay's throat, as if frozen by the command. Kurogane gave a huff and moved away from Fay, and that goofy grin hadn't changed even in the face of mortal peril.

"Hime...without you here, they'd kill each other," Souma said, boggling at her companions.

"I know," Tomoyo-hime said, with a little giggle.

* * *

It was nearing the full moon, and Kurogane was _positive_ that their plan was coming into action. She just wasn't sure what it _was_. She took to sleeping with Ginryuu and casting suspicious glances over her shoulder. They were simply too happy together. Their thoughts were too alike and they got on too well.

She heard mentions of "_So pretty_!" and _"She'll look great!"_

It was bad enough with just Fay or Tomoyo-hime alone. Together was the sixth level of hell for Kurogane.

* * *

Fay was ripping Kurogane's clothes off and, while that wasn't a noteworthy thing, something felt _off_ about it. Nevermind that Fay did this nearly every night; turning female had only made her more creative.

This time though, there was this _glint_ in her eyes that somehow wasn't lascivious. It was the same glint she saw when Fay was about to tease him and run, their own playground cat-and-dog games that had spanned for years, fan and sword feeling out a sort of courtship.

It was when Tomoyo-hime came in carrying something frilly and girly -and with the same glint in her eyes- that Kurogane finally understands.

Unfortunately for her, Kurogane realizes the signs too late. By the time she is about to sprint away, both Fay and Tomoyo-hime have pounced on her, and the frilly monstrosity is already being pulled over her head.

* * *

Tomoyo-hime's work had obviously paid off.

Kurogane was dressed in a somewhat short, puffy, powder-blue dress. There were tiny wings on the back, and her legs were sporting thigh-high lacy stockings adorned with bows at the top. The outfit was finished with a pair of black Mary-Janes, and a bow in her spiky hair.

"You..." Kurogane began, her voice shaking with rage.

"You look great, Kuro-pon! Dashing! Positively lovely!" Fay said. "You outdid yourself, Tomoyo-hime!"

"I'll... I'LL KILL YOU!" She screamed, sword drawn. The effect was somewhat hampered by the Mary-janes, the puffy dress and the mini wings.

"Hyuuu!"

Fay leaped. Her blue, floral-print skirt had been shortened quite a bit, making the movement easy. After all, Kuro-mama preferred shorter skirts √ and Fay never could wear long skirts, as they tended to caught between her legs, or on branches or fence-posts, and thus prevented her daily escape from Kurogane's sword.

Tomoyo-hime shook her head as she watched them chase each other through the garden, Fay teasing Kurogane like a cat teasing a dog. Souma watched in abject horror as Fay jumped over the topiaries, Kurogane following without a thought.

"How noisy," Tomoyo-hime said with a smile.

* * *

The stars aligned again at the right point and she cast the dust over the pond. For a moment it became cloudy, then lightened and shined smooth and clear. She saw Yuuko's face, the woman's image appearing within the rippled surface. The witch was smirking, quite pleased with herself and the results. Tomoyo-hime was rather pleased herself.

"I see you're getting along well," Yuuko said.

"And I see you're enjoying the dress I had made," Tomoyo-hime replied with a smile.

In the far side of the pool, Tomoyo-hime saw Watanuki stomp by in a pink, frilly maid's outfit, complete with cat ears and tail. She saw another teen, taller, with a rather blank expression, studying him. Actually, _staring_ would be a better term for it.

"...oi," the teen said.

_"WHAT?"_

"That outfit's...not bad."

"AJFKDSL WHAT THE--?!"

Everything else dissolved into incoherent screaming as Watanuki violently objected to his situation. As a hired boy damned to pink, frilly things for an indiscernible time, knowing Yuuko, it could be forever.

Yuuko chuckled. "Oh, young love."

"It's gotten noisier around here as well," Tomoyo-hime replied.

Yuuko raised her glass, and Tomoyo-hime mirrored her on her own side of the universe. The moon shone down into the waters and just beyond she could hear the sounds of frantic screaming, the kind that could only be provoked by being forcibly shoved into a frilly, lacy dress ensemble. With the right accessories, of course

She took a sip of the wine as the water grew cloudy again and returned again to being merely a pond for koi. Very enlightened koi.

All was well, indeed.


End file.
